The contents of this article today — recommendations of tangles for newcomers to the Zentangle® art form — have become a bit of a tradition to start a new year.

The holiday gifting season always brings many new people to our worldwide Zentangle community. And then I get emails asking “which tangles should I start with?”. Which ones are good for Beginners?

While it’s true there’s a mind-boggling array of great tangles on the site, keep in mind as Rick and Maria say “Anything is possible … one stroke at a time.™” This applies to tangling and the mindful practice of deliberate stroke-making.

My personal advice to beginners is to start with what are often referred to as “the official tangles” — the official tangles are the Zentangle-originals (from Zentangle HQ) that are listed and linked on the top menu bar under ZENTANGLES > LINDA’S LIST OF OFFICIAL TANGLES.

You could create Zentangles for the next year with just a handful of the Zentangle-originals with instructions available from that list, together with the 250 TanglePatterns Strings, and never get tired of playing with them and variations you come up with yourself.

From that list of Zentangle-original tangles, here are few that are perfect to get everyone tangling:

Crescent Moon – with this tangle we learn the technique of the aura and it’s the classic starter tangle

Hollibaugh – with this tangle we learn the technique of drawing behind

Bales – a basic grid tangle that is almost infinitely variable and it’s a core official tangle

Printemps – a fun tangle that helps practice pen control and one of the tangle enhancers, sparkle

Cadent – requires a little more focus than the first four but it’s another classic tangle that’s infinitely variable as you’ll see in CZT Margaret Bremner’s excellent tutorial

Another tip … for best results try to use up to 3 or 4 tangles at most in a tile, more than that and your Zentangle will probably look very busy.

Monotangles are also very popular, this is where you use one tangle (with or without variations) for a Zentangle. For explanations of these unfamiliar terms, see the ZENTANGLES > ZENTANGLE TERMINOLOGY page.

Just jump in and tangle! Zentangle tiles are designed to be small and manageable so you’re not overwhelmed. And as you do more and more of them you’ll be delighted to see your art improve with each one. Be sure to keep all your tiles, signed and dated, so in a few months time you can go back and see the visual evidence of just how far you’ve come.

In past iterations of this post, fellow tanglers shared some of their favorites. Here they are with thanks:

Please feel free to share your tips/advice to all our new tanglers in the comments!

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Many tanglers like to use these biweekly Tangle Refreshers as their Zentangle® challenge-of-the-day.

Using the RANDOM TANGLE SELECTOR in the left sidebar this TanglePatterns String was selected for today – either to go with today’s Buried Treasure or just to use as a starting point for your day’s tangling.

Think of this as your tangle Challenge, if you’re so inclined. TanglePatterns String 077 is from tangler Barbara Finwall and was originally posted here.

Right click and SAVE to your computer; then print. Pinning content from this site is not permitted. Copyright notice is posted on the bottom of every page. Thank you for respecting these rights.

Remember that Zentangle strings are always drawn freehand in pencil so that they magically disappear when you’ve finished tangling the tile.

A string is a simple device to “divide your drawing surface into sections to be filled with tangles“.

In the Zentangle PRIMER Vol 1 (now available in paperback for $23.95) there is an entire section devoted to Strings which in part explains:

“As you tangle, your strings disappear as if by magic. This adds to the charm and unified appearance of your completed art. If you had used a pen to draw your string, you would still see the initial sectioning in your completed creation.“

The Tangle Refresher series, aka Buried Treasure, spotlights hidden tangle gems from the past. It can remind you of tangles you might not have used for a while or introduce you to some you haven’t come across yet.

Here are five more tangle pattern gems and a Tangle Refresher from a year (or two) ago for your tangling pleasure. Remember to check out the “More Good Stuff” links below too.

BTW as you visit these tangles please do leave a comment of thanks and encouragement to show the artists you appreciate them for sharing their creativity to inspire yours. And please share a link to your favorite tangles with your followers on all your social media. Thanks!

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